Devices for “walking on water” have a long history, with possibly the earliest documented example being Leonardo da Vinci's 1480 sketch of a man walking on water using elongated floats, preserved on sheet 28 of the Codex Atlanticus, now at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia in Milan, Italy.
Devices for “skiing on water” do not have quite such a long history, and have never become commercially available. One possible reason may be that no materials were available to provide a sufficiently buoyant and stable platform that was also light and relatively compact. Even the polyurethane foam and polyester resin surfboards developed in the second half of the 20th century would have required relatively unwieldy pontoons in order to-support a 250 lb. person. In the last decade, however, the ability to produce suitable shapes using expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam coated with epoxy resins, has resulted in even lighter and more buoyant surfing structures.
An early prototype of the present invention was constructed by modifying such an EPS-epoxy constructed windsurfing board. The windsurfing board, capable of carrying 250 lbs., was cut in half along the long axis to create a pair of water skis. A foot holding device was attached on the top surface of each “water-ski” at a position near the center-of-floatation, allowing a person to stand on the two water-skis in a stable, upright position.
Various embodiments of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be described in more detail herein below.